


the most colorful time of the year.

by chosuiri



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas fic, Gen, Tsumugi centric, gift exchanges!, i7 is a family!!!!!!!!!!, mentions of tsumugi's mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 13:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chosuiri/pseuds/chosuiri
Summary: “Are we doing the present stealing thing?” Riku asks, his eyes glinting at the mug as well, “I might steal that from you, Iori!”“No.” Iori narrows his gaze, “you get what you get. That’s how this works.”“But you can also steal presents, though. Can’t you just steal it back at the end, Iorin?” Tamaki pouts, “come on, don’t make it boring!”“No. We never said anything about stealing gifts.” Iori hisses, directing his gaze over to manager, “of course, that’s manager’s call. What do you think?”---Tsumugi hosts a Christmas party for the IDOLiSH7 boys, and  despite things going so well, the snow storm traps them inside for the night. Despite that, they continue on with their gift exchange as planned!





	the most colorful time of the year.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is part of the i7 xmas exchange 2018! this is for [luna_yumizuki](https://twitter.com/luna_yumizuki) on twitter! I'm your secret santa! I hope you enjoy this fic... hopefully it sates ur tsumugi content needs....

“Banri-san, a little to the left!” Tsumugi calls as she clasps her hands together. She continues to hum classic Christmas tunes to herself to get into the mood for the party. Currently, they’re just adjusting some of the decorations in the main living room and making sure everything is in tip-top shape before the celebration. She’s excited that this year she’s finally able to plan something for the boys to show them the gratitude she felt for them for working so hard.

So this year for Christmas, or at least a few days before, she managed to clear all of their schedules approximately so they can all celebrate together. They even plan on doing a fun present exchange, and as per Yamato’s suggestion, they’re doing a case where they all bring a present worth 700 yen and exchange them in a circle. Tsumugi had some trouble looking for a decent gift, but she’s decided to get a custom mug done with Kinako on it. You can’t go wrong with Kinako, right?

Needless to say, it’s difficult for her to keep her excitement subdued, and she knows she’s doing a faulty job of hiding it as she continues to hum Christmas carols.

To her surprise, Banri joins in with as much enthusiasm, putting a wide smile on Tsumugi’s face as she surveys the room again. “I think it’s really coming together!”

“You think so?” Banri pauses, smiling thinly as he also steps back to admire his handiwork. “We make a good team, then! I’m sure they’ll like it.”

Tsumugi beams, and nods enthusiastically. “Right! We need to prepare the food now. Banri-san, you got the drinks, right?”

Banri laughs, “I have it taken care of. President is still preparing some food in the kitchen too. I lent him this tasty _karaage_ recipe, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

She laughs awkwardly at the thought of her father struggling to fry some chicken, and then takes out her phone. When the boys asked if there was anything they could do, she did ask that more food and drinks would be a good idea. She hopes that Mitsuki didn’t go overboard, otherwise they might have _too much food_. Making sure that both sides aren’t overcompensating, she opens a chat with Mitsuki.

 

 **[TSUMUGI]:** Um-- Mitsuki-san, how are preparations going?

 

He replies pretty quickly, thankfully.

 

 **[MITSUKI]:** Great, great! There’s gonna be a lot of food lolol  
**[TSUMUGI]:** President is making _karaage_ , so don’t go too overboard. We might have too much that we can’t finish!

 **[MITSUKI]:**  

**[MITSUKI]:** Yamato-san went to pick up some chicken too and more beer…

 **[TSUMUGI]:**  

**[TSUMUGI]:** That’s not good! We’ll have too much!

 **[MITSUKI]:** I think it’ll be fine lolol

 **[MITSUKI]:** I’m baking cookies with Iori, Tamaki, and Riku! They’re having a lot of fun with making the shapes.

 **[MITSUKI]:** [attached img1007.jpg]

 **[TSUMUGI]:** Oh! They look lovely!

 **[TSUMUGI]:** What are Sougo-san and Nagi-san doing?

 **[MITSUKI]:** They went with Yamato-san lolol

 **[MITSUKI]:** Nagi was disappointed because he wanted to make cookies too.

 **[TSUMUGI]:** I want to make some too!

 **[MITSUKI]:** Eh? Alright, I get it… let’s make some next time!

**[TSUMUGI]:**

****

 

They might end up with leftovers after the party, but it should be fine. It’s better to have more than not enough, after all!

She flashes a thumbs up at Banri, who responds with a smile of his own. But she frowns, averting her gaze toward the kitchen. “Should I help dad-- er, President?”

“It’s alright, Tsumugi-san, we’re not at work.” Banri laughs, “but I think it’d be a good idea if we both helped him out.”

“Right, I’m worried…” Tsumugi sighs, taking one last peak at the decor, approving of it as she scrambles to help her father in the kitchen as Banri follows behind.

* * *

Soon, the boys start bustling into their house, arms laden with gifts and food for the party. Tsumugi beams widely as she welcomes all of them inside her house, bobbing her head up and down as she greets them. The first thing Yamato says, though…

“Hm? Manager, you didn’t put a mistletoe up?”

Tsumugi panics for a quick second, wondering _why indeed doesn’t she have a mistletoe hanging around_ and that she’s an idiot for forgetting to put it up. However, one weary look from Mitsuki behind Yamato communicates the exact reason why. “I-I didn’t think it would be necessary for this party!?” She stammers as she dips her head, “I’m sorry if you were looking forward to it!”

Yamato laughs in good stride, “no worries, Manager~ I was just teasing. It’s not required or anything.”

Mitsuki clicks his tongue, “what are you doing, old man? That’s only in movies!”

“Manager,” Sougo interrupts their banter softly, “where should we put our things? We brought our share of refreshments.”

Tsumugi perks up, the embarrassment fading from her face as she beckons for those with food to come follow her. “Ah, put the gifts by the Christmas tree..!”

Usually, Christmas in Japan were reserved for couples, but of course that’s why Tsumugi decided to have this company party a bit earlier than the actual holidays. She couldn’t imagine if any of them had special plans with lovers-- well, Nagi made some attempts at inviting her for a special holiday date, but to that Tsumugi firmly rejected. Either way, even the holidays itself came with jobs for the boys. She’s elated that they’ve gotten so popular that they were even in high in demand for holiday programs-- she couldn’t be happier with the results!

Now it’s time for them to relax and celebrate as a family!

After leading them to the kitchen, she returns to the main living room to help the others sort out their gifts around the tree. Kinako seems to have hopped over as well, taking interest in all of the newly wrapped gifts and bouncing all over them. Tsumugi opens her mouth to warn the bunny, but stops as soon as Iori instead picks her up.

“Be careful,” Iori scolds her gently as he continues to run his hands through Kinako’s fur. “We don’t want you to get all caught up in the ribbons.”

Tsumugi breaks out into a small smile as she watches the younger boy interact with Kinako. He insists that he doesn’t want to handle “the fluffy thing”, but everyone fully knew well that he does.

Tamaki snorts, but reaches out to ruffle Kinako as well, before turning to Tsumugi. “Manager, are ya gonna play Christmas music? Sou-chan was wondering if you wanted to use his playlist.”

Tsumugi shakes her head, “I have it handled, Tamaki-san! I was about to play them…” she trails off as she fumbles with her phone, connecting it to the speakers in the living room. Then, she presses play on a playlist she compiled with some classic Christmas music befitting of the holiday-- she did throw in some of their wintery songs as well for the heck of it!

The music starts blaring from the speakers, casting a smile on everyone’s face.  She swears she spots a small smile on Iori filled with some childlike wonder, but he quickly looks away and coughs.

Riku and Nagi prance into the living room from the kitchen, Riku balancing a rather large (although short) present on his head while Nagi fumbles with a smaller, rather cylindrical looking gift in his hands.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Nagi hollers in his slightly accented English, gently setting down his gift next to what she assumes were Tamaki and Iori’s gifts.

“Merry Christmas to you too, Nagi-san!” Tsumugi responds with just as much exuberance in her voice, the goofy smile on her face sticking as she watches the two settle into the party.

“Nanase-san, be careful,” Iori warns as he slowly backs away from Riku with Kinako sitting quietly in his arms. Tamaki withdraws his hand from petting the rabbit thing, and walks over to join Riku’s side.

Riku pouts a bit when he notices Iori’s tactics. “I’m fine with Kinako, Iori!” Seeing that Iori is just ignoring what he’s saying, he shrugs, not wanting to get involved into an argument with the other. Instead, he opts to place his gift by the tree with the others. “Tamaki! What did you bring?”

“It’s a secret!” Tamaki quickly returns, “geez, Rikkun! You can’t ruin the surprise. But mines is that one! I spent a long time wrapping it!” He says as he points excitedly at a smaller package that is in an unorthodox shape.

“I wanted to see if you’d tell me anyways,” Riku sticks out his tongue, but looks over at where Tamaki’s present is. “That’s an interesting shape!”

“Very good! You are great at wrapping presents, Tamaki!” Nagi chimes in with a broad grin.

“Aren’t I?” Tamaki puffs out his chest proudly, “I did it all by myself!”

Iori rolls his eyes, “you spent a long time practicing. Did you have a fun time wasting paper by wrapping _my textbooks_ , Yotsuba-san?”

Tsumugi giggles at the image of Tamaki being surprisingly meticulous about presents, “it’s excellent, Tamaki-san! I’m going to check on the adults now, and then after we get the snacks settled, we can start the party!”

* * *

“They’re energetic, aren’t they?” Tsumugi asks, humming as she helps her father with arranging the food on plates. She’s kicked out the adults of IDOLiSH7 to mingle with the other members and finally place their gifts by the tree, claiming that she’ll ask for help if she needed it.

“Certainly,” Otoharu chuckles, “it’s been a while since the house was this lively. Maybe the last time was when you had your 5th birthday..?”

Tsumugi flushes at the memory her dad unsurfaced. Yes, she had an incredibly extravagant birthday party where she invited all of the other kids in her class at the time, and to this day she felt bad at the amount of time and money her dad had invested into it. That was her first birthday they celebrated after her mom passed away. The larger celebration did little to fill the hole in their hearts, but nonetheless she remembers the party both with fondness and embarrassment.

“This one costs less!” She quickly retorts, making a mental note to talk to her mother later. She doesn’t want to damper the mood when she’s just trying to help arrange _karaage_ on this plate, so she swallows back her words.

Somehow, Otoharu beats her to bringing up the subject. It’s been many years since her death, and even still it hurts them both knowing she’s gone. Tsumugi of course hasn’t kept as much memories of her as her dad has, but she treasures them nonetheless-- so much that she can’t say she’s unaffected now. “Your mother would definitely be proud of you. You’re even planning parties now!”

To be honest, she has to furiously wipe at her eyes to make sure she doesn’t start crying in front of him. “Dad... ah, ah, wait! You’re over-pouring the chips!”

His eyes widen as he puts the bag of potato chips back upright, laughing nervously as he attempts to place them back atop the bowl. “Forgive me, I’m not used to these…”

Tsumugi smiles, closing her eyes as she shakes her head fondly. Hopefully the party tonight will go well!

* * *

The party has been in perfectly full swing, with them all lounging around and speaking to each other happily as they stuffed their mouths with food and drinks. Thankfully, they had imposed a rule of no drinking until way, way later in the party. Or at least until after the gift exchange!

Although the party has seemed to be going perfectly as she had planned, one glimpse at the window told a different story. Weaving herself out of a conversation with Nagi and Riku, she goes to peak out of the window to see how catastrophic the weather is getting.

“Manager, are you worried about the weather? Here, Mitsuki-san made some...” Sougo walks up from behind, holding a mug of hot cocoa and offering it to her. “The report said it shouldn't be terrible, just a couple of centimeters of snow.”

Tsumugi gladly accepts the drink from him, although she feels bad that he’s the one serving her when she’s the host. “That’s what I saw too, but yet the snow looks so intense…” She frowns, but hides it by taking a gracious sip out of the mug. Mitsuki really had the perfect hot cocoa recipe!

“Sometimes the weather report is wrong,” Sougo reassures with a small smile. “Even if we get snowed in, I think we have a good chance of surviving.”

Tsumugi stiffens when Sougo brings up the unthinkable. Wait, wait… when did her Christmas party become a matter of life or death!? She’s glad to hear that they have a good chance of surviving, though?

Sougo frowns, and shakes his head, “sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so ominous… I’m sure the snow will let up and we can get home..?”

“I-If it comes to that, you all can sleep here if necessary…” Tsumugi nods, “I think we have a big enough room for you all to share if that’s fine? But only if it comes to it!”

Sougo nods, “right, of course. Only if it comes to it. I will be prepared.”

He’s still pretty ominous even though he’s trying not to be… then suddenly, the lights cut out completely, plunging all of them into darkness.

She has to stay calm, though. It was awfully naive of her to assume that everything would go perfectly. And almost miraculously, the boys were mature enough to not make much of a fuss.

“The power went out! Iorin, are you scared?” Tamaki asks immediately, rustling around in the darkness and doing who knew what to Iori.

Iori hisses, “I am not scared, Yotsuba-san. You’re the one who’s scared of the dark! Don’t force it on me!”

Tamaki probaby shakes him or something, because Iori lets out a loud yelp. “Yotsuba-san!”

“Shut up, Iorin--” Tamaki grumbles as the rustling noises continue.

“It's okay Iori, you can admit it.” Riku chimes in with a laugh. “Don’t be afraid guys, I’m here!”

“I will hold you tight to comfort your anxieties,” Nagi adds in genuinely. “But oh, my princess, are you alright?”

“That’s quite fine, Rokuya-san, Yotsuba-san already seems to be clinging to me.” Iori sighs in relief when the attention is finally taken off his falsified fear of the situation and then they seem to drop the subject completely. “Yotsuba-san, get off.”

“No.” Tamaki retorts firmly.

“Yes, I was just startled…” Tsumugi finally returns after Tamaki and Iori’s argument dies out as everyone takes out their cell phone and turns on the flashlight.

“Manager, do you have candles here?” Sougo asks, shining a light toward Tsumugi. He then turns his phone around, dragging it so the flashlight shines all over the living room in search of something to light up. “And a lighter would be useful, too…”

“I’ll get it,” Otoharu speaks up calmly, using his phone as a light to guide him to the kitchen-- on the way, he purposefully passes by Tsumugi to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

Tsumugi smiles slightly, “I know… thank you, dad.”

Otoharu simply flashes a smile back and goes on his way, leaving the others to discuss amongst themselves to find some candles they can use.

* * *

Eventually, they set up candles all around the living room and now the room was bathed in an orangey glow. Relieved that they are no longer stuck sitting in the dark, and with the heater running on a generator, Tsumugi clasps her hands together. “Thank you all so much… I’m so sorry that it turned out like this!”

“Don’t worry about it, Manager,” Yamato laughs, “it’s not like you could predict the weather. Things happen, y’know. You handled it pretty well.”

“Only with the help of Sougo-san, though--” She tries to protest, only to be cut off by Sougo.

Sougo shakes his head, “ahaha, you give me too much credit. You’ve done a good job yourself, Manager.”

Before the conversation reduced itself to Tsumugi and Sougo launching into a war of compliments and hidden self-degeneration, Mitsuki walks over toward the Christmas tree and motions to it. “Hey, why not we do our Christmas exchange? Everyone, let’s move the presents from the tree, then we can make a circle!”

Everyone agrees readily to Mitsuki’s suggestion, and they all go over to grab the presents from beneath the tree, although noticeably Tamaki and Riku were upset that they had to disrupt the present structure. Tsumugi giggles at their pouts, but also helps transfer the presents to the middle of their to-be circle.

After they successfully created a new pile of presents in the middle of the living room, Tsumugi takes a seat between her dad and Banri, and then she points at Iori. “Let’s go by our numbers! Iori-san, you’re first!”

Iori bites his lip, but then nods. He looks carefully around the pile of gifts, but then he finally scoots slightly to grab a moderately sized box.

Tsumugi’s eyes light up as he handles the present, knowing that it’s the one she had! Hopefully he like it!

He then carefully unwraps the present, taking care to undo the ribbon before neatly removing the wrapping paper.

“Iorin, you’re taking too long.” Tamaki complains, but he quickly gets flicked on the forehead by Mitsuki. “Ow, Mikkiiiiii….”

“Don’t complain, Tamaki!” Mitsuki chides, “he wants to preserve the wrapping paper!”

Nagi nods, “yes, it is very beautiful wrapping paper! We shall not blame Iori if he wants to save it!” Noticeably, he begins to look lovingly at Tsumugi assumes must be his gift with the MagiCona wrapping paper...

Iori rolls his eyes at Tamaki’s whining, and seems to go even slower to spite him even further. Finally, he unravels a plain white box. Iori nods, understanding that’s how to make the wrapping process easier, and then he carefully opens the box too. As soon as he sees what’s inside, his eyes light up slightly, but then he coughs to return to a straight face as he retrieves the gift outside of the box.

“Ooh, a mug!” Mitsuki exclaims, “and it has Kinako on it!”

“Yes… the fluffy thing.” Iori murmurs, although Tsumugi can sense the fondness in his voice. “This is nicely made. I will make sure to make good use out of it.”

She mentally does a victory dance in her head since she got a present good enough to satisfy Iori! “I'm glad you like it, Iori-san!” Tsumugi voices happily.

Iori coughs, nodding, “yes… it is great.”

“Are we doing the present stealing thing?” Riku asks, his eyes glinting at the mug as well, “I might steal that from you, Iori!”

“No.” Iori narrows his gaze, “you get what you get. That’s how this works.”

“But you can also steal presents, though. Can’t you just steal it back at the end, Iorin?” Tamaki pouts, “come on, don’t make it boring!”

“No. We never said anything about stealing gifts.” Iori hisses, directing his gaze over to manager, “of course, that’s manager’s call. What do you think?”

Tsumugi starts to sweat, taken aback that once again Iori has pinned authority on her to avoid getting the other members mad at him. He needs to stop doing that! “Um, I… was also planning on not having people steal presents to make it easier?”

Yamato smirks, “are you really saying that or are you just going with what Ichi wants?”

Wow, is it getting hot in here? She’s sweating even harder now. “N-Nothing like that! It’s final!”

Banri laughs, “I think that’ll be a good idea since there’s so many of us here.”

“I think so too,” Otoharu smiles plaintively, “and I think we’ll be satisfied that way. You all can trade after the party amongst yourselves.”

Tsumugi lets out a breath she hasn’t realized she’s been holding so intently, grateful for her dad’s and Banri’s interference.

Somehow, that satisfies the boys with that, so they decide to continue around the circle. It’s a shame though, Iori is sitting next to Banri, so that means he’s going to be going last since Tamaki immediately jumps out to grab a present from the pile.

To everyone’s surprise, he doesn’t get the biggest package, but rather a thin one that is neatly wrapped. Eagerly, he rips straight into it, casting a horrified look on Iori’s face. He does, however, keep his mouth shut.

“A notebook?” Tamaki blinks, immediately undoing the ribbon around the book and opening to peer inside. “Huh… it’s a planner?”

Iori speaks up, “that’s right. Your terribly untidy opening aside, I was happy you picked it. I think it’ll come in handy for keeping up with assignments, Yotsuba-san.”

Tamaki frowns, “but you’re my planner.”

“That’s…” Iori sighs as he rubs his temple, “I’ll teach you to use it yourself, later. You can doodle in it.”

Tamaki’s eyes light up at the prospect, and then settles down after that-- satisfied with Iori’s promise of him being able to doodle all over it.

“I will also help you use it,” Sougo remarks kindly, “it’s a very useful gift for Tamaki-kun, Iori-kun.”

Before Iori can respond in kind, Tamaki nudges Riku to go grab a package too. Riku happily complies, and crawls over to snatch a relatively larger gift (although oddly shaped) from the pile. He also takes some care with unwrapping at first, but then after he accidentally rips it, he just decides to let go.

The gift is a pretty box displaying a wax warmer and then another box next to it with wax melts. Riku blinks at it, but smiles “these look super adult! Thanks!”

Otoharu chuckles, “I hope you can make good use out of it, Riku-kun.”

Riku grins back, nodding as he glances over them in fascination. “I wonder how you use them… they seem like something Sougo-san would use.”

“You’re right about that…” Sougo confesses, but flashes a smile nonetheless, “I’ll teach you how to use it later.”

Looks like Sougo is responsible for helping a lot of them with their gifts, Tsumugi notes with a smile of her own.

“OH… it seems like it’s my turn!” Nagi exclaims, jumping up from the ground dramatically. He takes a few steps toward the pile of gifts, and then bends down to grab a lengthy box from the floor. He then carefully unwraps it, making sure to preserve the wrapping paper.

This time, Tamaki doesn’t yell at him to be faster, as Nagi skillfully undoes the wrapping fairly quickly. “They smell wonderful! And they are very cute!” He enthuses as he reveals a box of small tea lights, nodding in approval at the novelty of the present.

Sougo chuckles, “I hope you like them, Nagi-kun.”

“I love them!” Nagi grins, “it’s perfect for scouting rituals.”

Sougo blinks, “what?”

“Maybe you should let Sou-chan borrow some for his TRIGGER sh--”

“I suppose it’s my turn,” Sougo cuts off Tamaki before he says anymore, and then reaches for the largest package in the pile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tsumugi spots Yamato smirking for a split second before he changes back to a more neutral expression. It must be his gift, then.

Sougo also makes sure to preserve the wrapping paper somewhat, and works at it for a minute before carefully unraveling the large box. Sougo’s eyes grow wide as soon as he uncovers it, and he looks around, “t-this is… way above the price limit? Is it really fine for me to have this?”

“Open it up, Sou,” Yamato smiles, “you never know what’s inside.”

Sougo gulps, but nods as he tears the box open (raising concern in the others over how strong Sougo seems to be when using brute force), and then the expression on his face has never fell faster until this very moment. He immediately replaces his disappointment with a small smile, although it’s obviously forced, as he reluctantly takes the real gift out of the box.

He’s… holding underwear. No wait, it looks like a more flexible material--

“I… thank you, Yamato-san…” Sougo mutters darkly under his breath, “to think I’ll get something underwear related again from Yamato-san this year…”

Yamato shrugs, “listen, it could’ve been worse, Sou. I had to make it somewhat appropriate, _and_ swimsuits were on sale. So speedo it was.”

Mitsuki rubs Sougo’s back reassuringly, “I can get you another present to make up for the old man’s gag gift.”

“You don’t need to…” Sougo sighs, “it’s your turn now, Mitsuki-san…”

“I’ll get you something else,” Mitsuki insists, and then goes to grab another interestingly wrapped present from the pile. Tamaki perks up when he does this, and stares intently at Mitsuki. Well, that must mean it’s from Tamaki.

Quickly, Mitsuki rips through the wrapping paper to reveal a pair of King Pudding-themed mittens. He chuckles at this, and immediately slides them on his hands, adjusting them so they fit snugly. “These are great!”

“Aren’t they!?” Tamaki asks excitedly, “they got a new winter collection!”

“Let’s go get everyone some King Pudding winter merch later then,” Mitsuki grins, his words causing Tamaki to perk up and nod vigorously.

“You better not forget, Mikki!” Tamaki shouts, “I’ll make sure you don’t!”

Everyone in the circle at least spares a single chuckle, and then Mitsuki jabs Yamato in the knee to go get his present.

Yamato complies, while mumbling something about Mitsuki being too rough. He grabs a fairly normally shaped gift, shakes it a bit, but shrugs and retreats to his spot in the circle. He offers it to Mitsuki first to open it for him.

“Open it yourself, old man.”

Yamato snorts, “just wanted to see if you’d like to help me.” He finally rips through the wrapping paper and takes out the box from inside. He blinks at the box, rotating the box several times as he reads the text on the box. “String lights, huh…”

Banri cranes his neck slightly to gauge Yamato’s reaction to them, and then speaks up. “If you’d like, I can--”

“Nah, it’s fine, Banri-san.” Yamato laughs, “I think I’ll spice up my room just a bit with these. It’s great, thanks.”

Banri sighs in relief at that, tapping his chest slightly as he turns to Otoharu. “Well, President. It’s your turn.”

Otoharu smiles, nodding as he reaches for the closest gift toward him, which was another fairly large box. He carefully undoes the wrapping, revealing a box with a lot of ingredients and the likes in it. Tsumugi peers over, her eyes widening as she inspects the contents of the box.

“Oh, what’s all of this?” Tsumugi questions as she grabs one of the cookie cutters from the box.

Mitsuki grins as he gives a thumbs up, “that’s a cookie making starter kit! It’s my own recipe written on that paper there, and then I also have the dry ingredients measured out there with cookie cutters. You can try it sometimes, President!”

“Why, I think I will try it with Tsumugi-kun and Banri-kun one day,” Otoharu bobs his head, “thank you for this, Mitsuki-kun.”

“No problem, I'm just glad you like it!” Mitsuki beams, and then looks at Tsumugi, “it’s your turn, Manager!”

Finally her turn came to get a gift. There’s only two gifts left, one for her, and one for Banri. She frowns, uncertain of what to get-- then from across the circle, Tsumugi notices Riku eagerly pointing at the larger box compared to the small cylinder. She can’t help but giggle at his earnestness, and decides to indulge him by grabbing his gift.

She also makes sure to preserve some semblance of the wrapping paper, taking off the tape where necessary and struggles with making sure she doesn’t mess up any of the gifter’s handiwork.

Underneath all of that, Tsumugi takes out a cork board encased in plastic with a plastic container of cutesy pushpins to use with the corkboard. She breaks out into a smile at the thoughtfulness of the gift, and thinks that she’ll definitely display this in her room and put it to good use.

“I’m glad you got my gift, Manager!” Riku grins, “isn’t it useful? You can put pictures of us on there and have it in your room or something!”

Tsumugi nods, and feels as if there’s a tear or two coming to her eye. Not now! She furiously rubs at her eye to prevent the tears from falling so she isn’t a total mess before Banri even gets a chance to get his present. “It’s perfect, Riku-san. Thank you.”

Riku’s eyes sparkle at her approval, and then settles back down and relaxes on the carpet.

For a second she thinks that she might’ve seen an imaginary tail wagging on him. She stifles her laughter, and then fixes her gaze on Banri expectantly.

Banri doesn’t have to take a second to decide on a gift, since he’s left with one last gift anyways. It’s probably the one Nagi got, considering the cutesy MagiKona themed wrapping paper it had. A reason most of them has avoided it could be because they were afraid of ruining the wrapping paper and incidentally enraging Nagi. Banri smiles despite the hard task ahead of him, and then somehow he manages to take it off cleanly.

That’s… pretty amazing at how fast and skillful he is at this.

“Hairspray, huh?” Banri laughs, “I suppose it’ll be useful for if I want to do something different with my hair. Thank you, Nagi-kun.”

“Of course!” Nagi shouts in English with a broad smile, “your hair is quite silky and gorgeous. You must definitely try playing with it sometimes, Mister Banri.”

“I will do just that,” Banri pauses for a second to think about it some more, but nods nonetheless. That seems to sate Nagi’s curiosity, and then their gift exchange came to an end.

* * *

The snow has stacked up on the roads, and they weren’t to be cleared until the next day. So the boys and Banri decided on staying over for the night, with the boys sharing the guest room and Banri volunteering to take the couch. Yamato had joked about staying in Tsumugi’s room but one glare from Otoharu ceased any further jokes on that matter.

For the most part, the rest of them are settled in talking amongst themselves in their rooms, leaving Tsumugi to be alone. They decided on cleaning up the next morning, so Tsumugi finds herself still sitting on the floor of the living room and taking in all the elaborate decorations she’d done with Banri earlier in the day. While it has been a bit stressful at times, overall the party has been enjoyable for all of them. She gets up the floor, and then walks slightly over near the picture of her mother. Tsumugi places a plate with some of the cookies Mitsuki brought on top of it, and relights the candle burning by her mom’s picture.

“Mom,” she begins softly, “everyone’s been lively today and I had a lot of fun at the party.” She continues to recount the details of the party to her mother’s framed visage, and then finally she clasps her hands together.

“Merry Christmas, mom. Dad and I miss you a whole lot, but…” Tsumugi breaks out into a smile, “IDOLiSH7 really became the light of my life. I’m really grateful for them-- I’m sure you would’ve loved these guys, too.”

She dips her head once again, and then right before she starts to get up to leave, Kinako hops over and lands right in her lap.

Laughing, Tsumugi strokes her pet rabbit. “Merry Christmas to you too, Kinako.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i had a lot of fun writing it bc i love this family so much and i hope i was able to do them justice!! also ofc mostly everything related to tsumugi's mom and then her childhood is wholly my headcanon haha.
> 
> and to sol, i hope you also enjoyed this fic and i managed to reach (or even surpass...) your expectations! merry christmas!
> 
> anyways, you can also find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/shineonthesea) for more info and screaming over i7.
> 
> also, for reference... here's who got who what (SPECIAL THANKS TO MY FRIENDS WHO HELPED ME FIGURE THIS OUT):  
> iori - planner (tamaki gets)  
> yamato - speedo in roomba package (sou gets this)  
> mitsuki - cookie starter kit in jar bc he's cute and i love him (takapapa gets)  
> tamaki - king pudding mittens (mitsuki gets)  
> sougo - candle set/tea lights with holder (nagi gets)  
> nagi - hairspray (banri gets)  
> riku - corkboard with cute pushpins (tsumugi gets)  
> tsumugi - custom mug with kinako on it (iori gets)  
> banri - string lights (yamato gets)  
> otoharu - wax warmers/melts (riku gets)


End file.
